Re: RELIGION V/S SPIRITUALITY

[Guest guest]

Wow...I knew I was thinking this but hadn't realized I wrote it

here...hummm, oh, I see now...it was another me who did, errr, another

you that didn't, what was I thinking, oh well, the important thing is

" it has been said " . So shall it be done...

~In Total Agreement~

D~

www.intentionalone.com

>

> SPIRITUALITY SAYS THAT GOD IS WITHIN EACH OF US

> AND WE DON'T NEED ANYONE ELSE TO MAKE

> THAT DIVINE CONNECTION FOR US

>

> RELIGION SAYS THAT WE ARE SEPARATED FROM GOD

> AND THAT WE NEED " THEM " TO MAKE THE

> DIVINE CONNECTION FOR US

>

> SPIRITUALITY SAYS THAT WE ARE FREE TO MAKE CHOICES

> ON OUR OWN AND THAT WE MUST TAKE PERSONAL

> RESPONSIBILITY FOR OUR ACTIONS

>

> RELIGION SAYS WE MUST MAKE THEIR

> CHOICES AND ACT THEIR WAY

>

> THE THEME OF SPIRITUALITY IS

> UNCONDITIONAL LOVE

>

> THE THEME OF RELIGION IS FEAR AND GUILT

>

> SPIRITUALITY DOES NOT REQUIRE US

> TO MAKE DONATIONS

>

> RELIGION HAS BECOME BIG BUSINESS

>

> SPIRITUALITY SAYS THERE IS NO HELL, NO

> JUDGMENT, NO ANGRY GOD... THAT WE

> ARE LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY

>

> RELIGION SAYS THERE IS A HELL, GOD GETS ANGRY

> AND JUDGES US... THEREFORE, WE ARE NOT

> LOVED UNCONDITIONALLY

>

> SPIRITUALITY SAYS WE ARE FREE TO

> CHOOSE OUR OWN PATH TO GOD

>

> RELIGION COMMANDS US TO DO IT THEIR WAY

>

> SPIRITUALITY SAYS WE GO TO GOD

> TO LIGHTEN OUR BURDEN

>

> RELIGION HAS TAUGHT US TO FEAR THEIR GOD

>

> SPIRITUALITY SAYS WE SHOULD NOT BE ASHAMED

> OF OUR SEXUALITY... THAT IT SHOULD BE A

> SACRED CELEBRATION OF LOVE

>

> RELIGION HAS TAUGHT US TO FEEL ASHAMED,

> GUILTY AND DIRTY ABOUT OUR SEXUALITY

>

> SPIRITUALITY TEACHES US TO

> HONOR AND RESPECT MOTHER EARTH

>

> RELIGION HAS TOLD US TO " BE THOU FRUITFUL,

> MULTIPLY AND SUBDUE THE EARTH "

>

> I REPEAT... " SUBDUE THE EARTH "

>

> I SUSPECT JESUS AND BUDDHA WOULD

> HAVE SAID SOMETHING LIKE...

>

> " ACT RESPONSIBLY,

> HONOR EARTH MOTHER

> AND ALWAYS GIVE HER YOUR LOVE "

>

> SPIRITUALITY ASKS THAT WE HAVE CHILDREN IN A

> RESPONSIBLE WAY THAT IS CONSISTENT

> WITH MOTHER EARTH'S RESOURCES

>

> RELIGION SAYS THAT BIRTH CONTROL IS UNNATURAL,

> A SIN, AND THAT WE CAN GO TO HELL FOR

> PRACTICING IT. ARE THEY AFRAID

> OF LOSING DUES-PAYING MEMBERS?

>

> SPIRITUALITY REMINDS US THAT WE

> ARE ONE WITH GOD AND ONE

> WITH EACH OTHER

>

> RELIGION TEACHES DISUNITY AND SEPARATION,

> WHICH IS THE OPPOSITE OF GOD

>

> SPIRITUALITY TELLS US THAT GOD IS WITHIN

>

> RELIGION SAYS HE IS IN HEAVEN AND THAT

> THEY ARE THE ONLY INTERMEDIARIES FOR US

>

> SPIRITUALITY SAYS WE ARE BORN

> IN INNOCENCE AND PURITY

>

> RELIGION SAYS WE ARE BORN WITH SIN

>

> SPIRITUALITY TEACHES THAT WE ARE ON A LONG

> SPIRITUAL ADVENTURE AND JOURNEY,

> WHICH WILL ULTIMATELY END BY

> REUNITING WITH OUR SOURCE

>

> RELIGION SAYS WE'VE GOT ONE LIFE TO GET IT

> ALL RIGHT AND THERE IS NOTHING BUT

> HEAVEN OR HELL AFTER THAT

>

> SPIRITUALITY SAYS WE ARE FREE TO EXPRESS

>

> RELIGION GAVE US THE DREADED INQUISITION

>

> SPIRITUALITY TEACHES

> UNCONDITIONAL LOVE FOR ALL

>

> RELIGION GAVE US THE CRUSADES IN WHICH

> MILLIONS WERE KILLED AND PERSECUTED

> IN THE NAME OF GOD

>

> SPIRITUALITY TEACHES THAT WE SHOULD LOVE

> ONE ANOTHER UNCONDITIONALLY AND

> ALWAYS HONOR THE RIGHTS

> AND CHOICES OF OTHERS

>

> RELIGION TREATED NATIVE AMERICANS, THE MAYANS

> AND OTHER INDIGENOUS CULTURES AS SAVAGE

> PRIMITIVES WHO MUST BE SAVED

>

> SPIRITUALITY TEACHES PEACE AND HARMONY

>

> RELIGION HAS CAUSED MORE WARS

> AND MORE KILLING THAN

> ANY OTHER REASON

>

> SPIRITUALITY SAYS RESPECT

> ALL LIVING THINGS

>

> I NEVER ONCE HEARD ANY RELIGION ASK THAT WE STOP

> SLAUGHTERING MILLIONS OF TREES EVERY

> YEAR FOR CHRIST'S BIRTHDAY

>

> SPIRITUALITY TEACHES US TO HAVE

> FAITH IN OURSELVES

>

> RELIGION TEACHES US TO HAVE FAITH IN THEM

>

> SPIRITUALITY SAYS WE HAVE ALL THE ANSWERS...

> THAT WE CAN FIND THEM BY GOING WITHIN

>

> RELIGION TEACHES US THAT IT HAS ALL THE

> ANSWERS AND ONLY ITS ANSWERS

> ARE THE RIGHT ONES

>

> SPIRITUALITY TEACHES US TO SEARCH FOR THE

> UNIVERSAL TRUTHS AND OUR HEARTS WILL

> TELL US WHEN WE HAVE FOUND THEM

>

> RELIGION TEACHES WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO

> ACCEPT THEIR VERSION OF THE TRUTH

>

> I think of myself, basically, as a teacher and a counselor. So,

> lessons such as these are not meant to be literary masterpieces. I am

> not concerned with being lofty and profound, but in dealing with

> those day-to-day problems, for which people are seeking help and

> healing.

>

> In these essays, I am not presenting a new religion, startling and

> shocking as some of the concepts may be. I am dealing with a

> technique for the application of fundamental Spiritual Laws,

> discovered and demonstrated by Jesus and many other great mystic

> teachers—the thread of Truth, the fundamental concepts that enable

> any individual, practically and creatively, to release his or her

> own " Imprisoned Splendor. " I have been dealing with these insights

> for many years. I have given thousands upon thousands of talks. Yet,

> all of these millions upon millions of words can be synthesized into

> just a few sentences. It is humbling to admit that a lifetime of

> teaching can be summed up " in a nutshell " …but I think it can. So, I

> would like to give that kind of a summation, just three simple things—

> three simple fundamentals of this New Insight In Truth.

>

> First: " The Omnipresence of God " – Someone once said, " If you aren't

> as close to God as you once were, don't make the mistake about which

> one of you has moved. " We sometimes act as if God were lost, and that

> our efforts in spiritual unfoldment are to find God. This attitude

> must be changed! God is not lost! It is simply that we must find

> ourselves…take stock of ourselves. When we do, we find that we enter

> a right relationship with things…and God is that relationship. We

> find that God is the Wisdom of our mind, the Life of our body, the

> Substance of our affairs. We will know that there are no God-empty

> spots in our life—that the Presence of God is present, not absent.

> Much that we have engaged in, which we have called, " The Practice of

> the Presence, " has really been a practice of the absence of God,

> because it has been a prayer or affirmation or some kind of devotion

> that is based upon trying to reach out to God " out there somewhere. "

> There are no God-empty spots, and where you are God is…vitally

> completely and fully. So, religion is not simply a " one day a week "

> activity, but an every day process of relating ourselves dynamically

> with the God-Activity that is in everything and that radiates in and

> through ourselves.

>

> It is amazing how far we have strayed from Jesus' pure concept of

> God, when he said, " The Father within knoweth what things ye have

> need of, before you ask him, " [Matt. 6:8] and, " It is the Father's

> good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. " [Luke 12:32] How could we

> have missed this? In his Sermon on Mars Hill, the Apostle refers

> to the omnipresence of God in words that should be re-emphasized in

> every Christian church in the world: " The God who made the world and

> everything in it, being Lord of Heaven and earth, does not live in

> shrines made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He

> needed anything, since He Himself gives to all men life and breath

> and everything.…Yet He is not far from each one of us, for `in Him we

> live and move and have our being.' " [Acts 17:24-28, RSV] " In Him we

> live and move and have our being. " We live in the Presence…we live in

> God. It is the milieu of our life. We can't get out of it. There is

> nowhere to go to find God. Just " Be still, and know that I AM God. "

> [Psalm 46:10] Be still and let the Divine Flow manifest in you and

> through you. This is " The Omnipresence of God. "

>

> Second: " The Divinity of Man " – Quite often, I am criticized for

> saying that Jesus is not Divine. Actually, I am not saying that Jesus

> is not Divine, but I insist that all persons are Divine. Jesus made

> the discovery of the Divinity of man. He proved and demonstrated it

> in his own fulfillment. But the discovery was of the potential of all

> human beings. He said of you and me: " …the works that I do shall he

> [you] do also; and greater works than these shall he [you] do…. "

> [ 14: 12] So you see, when we talk about this idea that we have a

> Divine Potential within us, this does not give less reverence to

> Jesus, it gives more. Jesus is the " way shower, " the savior, in that

> he has revealed the Divine Potential of humankind. He showed us what

> we can all do. He showed us that each of us can go farther, can reach

> higher, can unfold tremendous potentialities that are within us, and

> that we can do it because he did it, and we can do it as he did it,

> if we have the faith that he had. This begs a lot of questions, but

> it simply indicates that life is a process of growth toward the

> fulfillment of that Divine Potential.

>

> Every person contains within himself or herself a Spark of

> Divinity, " that little Spark of Celestial Fire that a man may

> desecrate but never quite lose. " [ Washington] The purpose of

> life is to express and unfold this God-Self, this Infinite Potential.

> The same Potential indwells you that was in Jesus. Remember, the

> Apostle says, " Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ

> Jesus. " [Philippians 2:5] This is the same idea. The only difference

> is how good we are at discovering it, in mastering it, in expressing

> it. The difference between you and Jesus is not in the manner of his

> birth, but in the quality of his consciousness. The paper that is

> used in a fifty-dollar bill is exactly the same as that used in a one-

> dollar bill. But a different value has been placed upon them. The

> substance is the same, yet no one would say that the one-dollar bill

> is as good as the fifty, or that you are as good, in the quality of

> your consciousness as Jesus.

>

> Years ago, in the General Electric Company, there was a standing joke

> that was played on every new research scientist who joined the staff.

> His first assignment was to frost the inside of electric light bulbs.

> This was akin to being sent out to find a " shelf-stretcher " or a " sky-

> hook " or a " left-handed monkey wrench. " Everyone knew this was an

> impossible task. So, the joke went on for years and everybody had

> many good laughs. But finally, a young fellow came along who was

> determined to make good on his first job, and he did it! He actually

> developed a process that frosted the bulbs, which made them stronger

> by diffusing the light. This process is the basis for all modern

> electric lighting, invented by a man who didn't know it could not be

> done! That's the great key. That's the idea that Jesus suggests and

> demonstrates and fulfills. You can do the impossible! You can do

> more, you can have more, you can be more, when you realize that you

> are a Child of God, a Spiritual Being, and that you have an Infinite

> Potential awaiting releasement. Your role, as Browning would

> say, is to " open out a way whence the Imprisoned Splendor may

> escape. " This is the concept of the Divinity of man.

>

> Third: " The Creative Power of Thought " - Mind is the connecting link

> between humans and God. We must let our thoughts express God, rather

> than simply expressing reactions to things of the world. Thought

> itself is creative, and we become positive, creative, powerful beings

> when we think original God-thoughts. Elbert Hubbard [1856-1915,

> philosopher, writer, editor, school teacher, and lecturer] once

> said, " Man is not what he thinks he is, but what he thinks, he is. "

> Your life, as you are now expressing it, is the reflection of the

> framework of your mind, as formed by your dominant attitudes and

> beliefs of consciousness. If you are not satisfied with what you are

> experiencing, then you must begin today to rebuild this mental

> framework— " …be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, " [Romans

> 12:2] as said.

>

> When Jesus said, " …be it done for you as you have believed, " [Matt.

> 8:13, RSV] and, " According to your faith be it done unto you, " [Matt:

> 9:29, KJV] actually, he was referring to thinking. " Faith " is another

> word for thought. Jesus was saying, " According to your thoughts, be

> it done unto you. " The thoughts you think actually are the key to

> manifesting the conditions of your life. When you think in terms of

> the possibilities of life, then the door to success is open. If you

> think in terms of self-pity, of injustice, then the door is closed—

> but you open it or you close it by the way you think. You can think

> yourself into being unhappy or depressed. You can think yourself into

> being glad. You can think yourself into being well and prosperous…or

> you can think yourself into being sick and poor. You can actually

> think yourself into unemployment…or you can think yourself back on to

> a good-salaried position again—doing good work with good

> compensation. This is a very important thing.

>

> Because we have not recognized the importance of words and thoughts,

> we continually and habitually express such thoughts as, " What a

> stupid fool I am " or, " Everything I do fails miserably " or, " Oh, I

> suppose, once again we're gonna have more of those difficult times. "

> These are your thoughts, and your thoughts are going to determine the

> kind of conditions you experience in your life. Your thoughts set

> your own evaluation. In a very real sense, your thoughts determine

> what you become and the way others see you, for life is always lived

> from within-out. As L.C. says, " Things may happen around

> you, and things may happen to you, but the only things that really

> count are the things that happen in you. "

>

> So here we are…three aspects of what I call, " The Truth in a

> Nutshell " : " The Omnipresence of God, " " The Divinity of Man, " and " The

> Creative Power of Thought. " I give many, many talks on each and every

> one of these subjects, giving them broad expansion. In a sense, this

> is what it's all about: " The Truth in a Nutshell. "

> WHICH ONE FEELS BETTER TO YOU?

>

> SPIRITUALITY OR RELIGION?

>

> GO TO YOUR HEART FOR THE ANSWER

> IT WILL NEVER LIE TO YOU

> THE REAL GOD MADE IT THAT WAY

>